


For Him, Anything

by Xardogn



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-13
Updated: 2015-08-13
Packaged: 2018-04-14 11:07:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4562313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xardogn/pseuds/Xardogn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was wishes and second chances that hurt the most.</p><p> </p><p>--for tumblr AU Character A got stood up on a date and as they are about to leave, Character B slides in and saves the day, pretending to be thier date for the day.--</p>
            </blockquote>





	For Him, Anything

Perhaps Hide had been right, and he’d gotten his hopes up too much that a beautiful, intelligent woman such as Rize was interested in him, and that’s why he was sitting in this café for the past hour, waiting for her to show up.

She never did, but he was stubborn and desperate, and thought maybe, just maybe she had gotten held up somewhere and would pop in the door at any minute.

It obviously never happened.

Kaneki had started fidgeting with his phone, sending a message to his only friend ‘ _Hey, I think she stood me up.’_ Fully expecting Hide to return with a snarky ‘I told you so,’ he set the phone back down on the table and resolved to wait more.

Not even five minutes later, the waitress came over again. “Hey, have you decided what you want yet?”

“I’m sorry, could you give me more time? I’m sure my date will be here in just a moment…” Kaneki said with an apologetic smile. The waitress, about his age, just huffed a bit and turned away, not before fixing him with a look that could only be described as pity.

It made him shrink up in his seat just a little. He noticed the stares all the other patrons were giving him, making him even more uncomfortable about the situation. There was an older woman giving him a sad stare, a couple of teenage girls over in the corner who were trying their hardest to not sneak glances at him-and failing miserably-and another man who gave him a nod like he understood being stood up.

None of it made him feel any better, just made him sink lower and lower because of all the scrutiny, the sad eyes everyone were giving him. Kaneki had come here to have a fun time and enjoy a date, not get pitied by people he didn’t even know.

His phone vibrated against the table, signaling he had a new text and breaking him out of his reverie.

_[1 new text message]_

_Sent 1:32-- Hey man, I was joking when I said she was too good for you. That’s a dick move._

That made him smile a bit-at least Hide was on his side.

_Sent 1:32—It’s okay. I can wait a bit longer but I think I’ll leave. Everyone’s giving me weird looks._

His phone vibrated in quick succession three times after he sent that text, and he could almost see his childhood friend making a scrunched up face in front of him.

_Sent 1:33—Well probably since you’ve been sitting there for so long. But you were looking forward to this date for a week!_

_Sent 1:33-- I can’t just leave you sad like that, that chick is terrible for just dumping you right there. I would at least have the decency to tell you to your face._

_Sent 1:34—I’ll come get you. Text me when you’re out and I’ll treat you to ice cream or something, okay? Maybe we can salvage this._

That made him smile, at least a little bit. Really, Hide was too good of a friend for him sometimes. He did turn himself back to waiting for a woman who wouldn’t show up, but he was a little less desperate this time.

Ten minutes later, and Kaneki’s stubbornness finally gave out. With a sad frown on his face, he shoved his phone into his pocket and made to get up from the table, only to freeze in place when a shadow fell over him.

“Je suis dѐsolѐ!” The man above him exclaimed. “The traffic was terrible and I’ve kept my date waiting for far too long!”

Kaneki was too startled to do anything but sit down as the man in the deep purple suit finally sat down, allowing him to see his face. Holy shit.

If the college student hadn’t been questioning his sexuality before this moment in time, he certainly was no because by the gods, this man was _beautiful._ There really was no way to describe it.

His purple hair was unusual to say the least, but everything about him was immaculately groomed and coordinated, from his elegant fingers to his thick eyelashes. Kaneki was seriously having a hard time talking right now because of all the people he was expecting to sit at the table, it was not _him._

“Play along, please, I shall explain in a moment,” the man’s low voice said, knocking him out of his daze, and hopefully fading the pink blush on his cheeks.

“Oh. Um, hi, I’m sorry I didn’t see you there…” Kaneki said awkwardly, scratching at his face. “And I’m really glad you finally came.”

The dark-haired boy was screaming internally and really wanted to text Hide about this new development and whether he should be weirded out or not, but they were in a public place. He didn’t seem like a serial killer.

But luckily, the man in the suit waited until the waitress came back to order two coffees and settle himself fully into the seat across from him. Kaneki was still unsure how to react to this new situation, so he just waited until the newcomer made his move.

“I understand that I’m not the person you’re looking for, but I couldn’t let a young man like yourself sit by his lonesome while his date so ungraciously stood him up,” He said, which just added to his confusion.

“If you don’t mind me asking then, who exactly are you, so I can tell me friend if I’m gonna be making it back alive or not.” Kaneki finally felt his wits come back underneath him, but the man across did nothing but smile at his statement.

“Of course! My name is Tsukiyama Shuu, and you have no reason to fear me killing you, even if the circumstances we met are rather odd. If it makes you at ease, you can leave right now if you wish,” the man said.

Kaneki didn’t quite know how to react to that. On one hand, maybe he should just leave, but on the other, Tsukiyama had been nice enough to come and sit down with him and wasn’t even trapping him into the situation.

“It’s fine. I was just surprised, after all.” Apparently he was still getting a date out of this, if you could call it that, though it was unusual to call it a date with two men. “I’m Kaneki Ken, nice to meet you.”

Something unknown flickered in Tsukiyama’s eyes-recognition, perhaps? It didn’t matter as he replied normally. “Kaneki-kun, Tu m'as tellement manqué!”

“Wait, do you speak French? I didn’t understand that,” he blurted out, recalling the tall man’s greeting from earlier.

“Yes. I’m multilingual. I can conversationally speak French and English, though I can’t say how good I am at reading in them yet. I briefly thought about studying linguistics in college, but it’s not my cup of tea, so to speak,” Tsukiyama replied.

“So you’re a college student like me?” Kaneki asked. That was interesting, and something they had in common.

After that, the conversation flowed naturally. Kaneki learned that Tsukiyama was 22, had an interest in literature, and was absolutely obsessed with ‘gourmet’ food. He almost regretted bringing up that topic, as now the other man wouldn’t stop talking about it, but in reality it was kind of funny to see his exuberant hand gestures.

“It was ‘dolce’, Kaneki-kun! One cannot simply describe the taste using mere words!” Tsukiyama said. “That apple pie was most certainly the best thing I had ever tasted. The crust, the right balance of sweetness and tart…”

He rambled on for a few more moments before Kaneki decided to interrupt him. “Did you say that you liked literature?”

Tsukiyama stopped mid-rant and folded himself back into the booth, ignoring the looks the other patrons-and the waitress-were giving him. “Ah yes, I’m sorry to have neglected that. It’s hard to stop when I am on such a tangent.”

The man looked down for a moment, folding his long fingers again, before asking another question. “Say, I have a talent for guessing what types of books people like. Mind if I guess yours?”

Well, since the topic had turned to something Kaneki could finally talk about, he was more than eager to fill in the space. “Sure, go ahead.”

He was actually interested in what this Tsukiyama was gonna come up with just by looking at him. Probably something-

“Hmm, you like to read stories written by Sen Takatsuki, don’t you?” Tsukiyama asked, and Kaneki’s eyes grew round.

“Wow-how did you know that? I do. And Franz Kafka. It was my love of books that lead me to my major!” He hadn’t been expecting the other man to guess him that well. Hide did always say he had a face that was read easily but he guessed which _books_ he read.

“Aha! Yes, you seemed that type. Is it the horror aspect of her stories that interest you so much, or is it something else?” With his statement, the purple-haired man had once again flourish a hand into the air like he’d come across some great revelation.

“Yes, you could say that. Sen Takatsuki’s works often have an underlying depth to them. She uses detailed phrases intertwined with psychological descriptions that give the work a touch of realism that it needs,” Kaneki said, the words just spilling out at the mention of his favorite author.” Recently I’ve been reading ‘The Egg of the Black Goat.’ Have you heard about that one?”

Tsukiyama smiled again, and it was quite a beautiful sight, though he could almost tell that it wasn’t fully because of pleasure. “You could say something like that. An old friend of mine used to talk about it. Please, regale me again with the premise.”

“Well, the main character is the Black Goat’s son, which is why the book is called Egg of the Black Goat, but basically, the Black Goat is a brutal serial killer. Her son is disgusted with her violent tendencies, but soon has to acknowledge them growing inside of himself. I think it’s a good commentary on how a person’s psyche is built up from outside influences and how one person can be powerful enough to overwhelm the other person’s will, “ Kaneki said, looking brightly at his new companion.

It was a new feeling to have someone pay attention to everything he said. Hide was the only one who had ever done so before, and even he couldn’t hide the fact that he didn’t know a thing about Japanese literature, no matter how hard he tried. It was hard to contain his excitement then, when a beautiful man sat down across from him, _him,_ the plain and boring Kaneki Ken and was raptly listening to every single word he was saying.

“Bien, Bien, you are very intelligent and have a way with words. I admire that in you, to stand unique among a field of dull flowers!” Tsukiyama exclaimed. “It is the philosophy of the strong eats the weak, is it not? Those who are weak are the ones crushed by fate if it could be interpreted like that. Yet at the same time, there is a spirit that can be uncrushed and that seems to be the strongest force of all-I have seen it many times.”

There was something haunting and hidden in the man’s words, but Kaneki was not able to put a finger on it. Moreover, he was distracted by the fact that Tsukiyama had actually understood what he was talking about. “That could be true, but I never thought of it like that. It seems sad that some people would have to be sacrificed just because they were weak at the wrong moments. But-does that mean you understood me?”

“Of course. It’s clear that you are an avid reader and have a lot of intriguing theories about such deep psychological works as those, and what sort of companion would I be to not understand the words those books put in your mouth?” Said companion continued to say, with only half-dramatic hand waving.

 _This guy sure does talk a lot._ Kaneki thought to himself, but he didn’t really mind. Hide always filled the silence anyway, and it was easier for him to just reply with what he wanted then racking his brain for something to say.

His phone suddenly vibrated against the table, as if reminding him the conversation that Tsukiyama had interrupted him from. “I’m sorry. I kinda, uh, left my friend Hide hanging. Do you mind if I answer him so he knows I didn’t get eaten or something?”

“Anything for you, Monsieur, “Tsukiyama said with a slight bow of the head. Kaneki suddenly flushed at the phrase, looking down at the phone in hopes the other man didn’t see.

[4 new messages]

_Sent 1:45—Yo, Kaneki, did you decide to leave? Cause just text me and I’ll come meet you._

_Sent 1:47—Um…you okay there? Did she finally come?_

_Sent 1:55—I totally understand you not wanting me to mess up your super great date, but throw me a bone here. I wanna know if you’re okay!_

_Sent 1:55—I’m lonely, come on, Kaneki. You don’t have to cry in your bed._

Well, that was just even more embarrassing. Trying not to look up at Tsukiyama, who was gracefully sipping at his coffee, Kaneki quickly typed out his reply.

_Sent 1:55—Hide, calm down. I’m not crying and I’m fine._

_Sent 1:55—Actually, this really pretty guy sat down in front of me and is talking to me. Says he feels bad that I got stood up._

[1 new message]

_Sent 1:56—Woah dude, you didn’t tell me you were gay! Like seriously? He just sat down across from you?_

Kaneki looked up from his phone, making eye contact with Tsukiyama, before quickly looking down.

_Sent 1:56—Yeah. And he’s being really nice and polite and keeps looking at me. I don’t know what he’s doing!_

[1 new message]

_Sent 1:56—He’s flirting with you, idiot! Kaneki, listen to me. Don’t let this opportunity go. Flirt with him. Be nice. Being you, you’ll never get another chance like this._

The last text message made him close his phone in indignation, causing his new date to look up at him in confusion.

“My friend’s an asshole,” He explained. “He thinks I can’t get a date.”

Out of all the reactions to give, he wasn’t expecting Tsukiyama to start _laughing_ at his words. It wasn’t forced either-in fact, it was probably the first time he’d seen the man so giddy the entire date.  Should he be offended, or…

“I apologize, Kaneki-kun. I was not laughing at you, merely at the fact that you could not get a date,” Tsukiyama said, seeming to have calmed himself down. There was nothing Kaneki could do but stare at him-how was he supposed to respond to that? Clearly, this purple-haired man must be delusional to think he was an irresistible date.

“I don’t understand. What is it exactly that you find so appealing about me?” He asked, his eyes wide.

A question like that sobered the taller man up, and he didn’t look like he was laughing anymore. In fact, he seemed tired, as if the life and vibrancy he had before drained out of him. “If I must be completely truthful for the first time in my life, it is everything about you, Kaneki Ken. “

An answer he wasn’t expecting stunned Kaneki into silence. The somber attitude, the way Tsukiyama held himself as if barely keeping himself upright-he couldn’t have been lying. But…

“One could say like a vintage wine, or exquisite gem, but Kaneki, you are an interesting person, and I am speaking from the bottom of my heart. Your tenacity, fighting spirit, even the odd kindness that blooms from the bottom of your heart, it is all you, and all beautiful,” Tsukiyama said, and with each successive word, Kaneki could feel his face getting hotter and hotter until he was ready to explode.

“Forgive me if I am being presumptuous. But I spend a lot of time watching people, and you are like an open book.” That was something Hide said about him as well, which made him wonder if it was really a good thing. But in this case, he supposed he could take it as such.

He didn’t know what to say to that. To say to any of that. How they went from talking about books and literature to Tsukiyama’s undying passion he didn’t know, but it was making the edges of his eyes tear up and frankly, it was embarrassing.

He took Hide’s advice and stammered out a reply.” I-you’re a very interesting person too, Tsukiyama-san. I wouldn’t mind getting to know you better. Especially if you stop saying embarrassing things.”

His hands were covering the bottom of his face so only his eyes were standing out. “I mean. Not that I don’t appreciate it but well, I’m not used to it. I mean! I’m sorry. Thanks, I guess.”

Oh god, he was ruining it. Hide was gonna yell at him for ruining this chance. Kaneki was mentally kicking himself for this, but to be completely honest, his brain was frozen. This pretty man sat down next to him, and became interested in him, and he barely even remembered he got stood up on a date at all.

Strangely enough, Tsukiyama didn’t seem to be bothered by his stammering at all, and instead flicked his fingers to his vest pocket, where there was a bright red rose nestled. Pulling it out, he handed it over to Kaneki with a graceful gesture.

“Tu es très gentil! What I mean to say, Kaneki Ken, is will you do the honor of letting me take you out on a proper date? I apologize for the red rose being a bit cliché, but I will find something more suitable next time.” Tsukiyama’s fingers held the stem of the flower, almost trembling under his gaze.

It seemed like almost, Tsukiyama was nervous. That in itself was strange, as Kaneki thought he was an absurdly confident man, in both appearance and mannerisms, yet here he was, hands shaking as he was offering a flower to a college student.

But he couldn’t deny anything. He had always been terrible at making friends and connections with other people, and it felt like a sudden dream and wish come true to have someone offer companionship to him. Hide was always there for him, by his side, but humans thrived on constant contact, if he looked at it scientifically. Tsukiyama had been nothing but polite and charming to him, if a little strange, and it made his heart flutter.

“I’ll accept,” he said, taking the flower out of Tsukiyama’s hands and twirling it in his own. “Not like I can say no to that kind of display.”

He was greeted back by a beautiful smile and an exclamation of ‘Bellissimo!’ that made Kaneki laugh and the rest of the café stare at him. Tsukiyama offered to pay the bill and even extended it to walking the him home, as their stay at the café had been a bit overdue.

Along the way they continued to chat, Tsukiyama starting to tell Kaneki a story of how he’d awoken to the sound of an old lady in his room and freaked out. He’d even started exclaiming in English at the end of it, which had the black-haired boy nearly in stiches from laughing so hard.

It was at the end of the story where the taller man had lost a water balloon fight to a small blue-haired boy that the two had finally reached Kaneki’s apartment, leaving him with a strange sinking sensation in his gut-he wanted this day to last longer.

But unfortunately, he couldn’t hold back time and Tsukiyama had to bid adieu, as he had business to attend to. Of course, he hadn’t left before offering Kaneki his number, address, and a quick peck on the forehead, leaving him a giant mess on his own doorstep.

He lay in bed that night, lighter and happier than he’d been in ages. Kaneki was up texting all night to Hide, who had demanded to know all the details of his ‘hot new date’. It felt all like a dream, like someone had played a huge trick on him much like Rize had, but all it took was a touch to the rose sitting gently in a vase to remember that it was real.

* * *

 

_Tsukiyama’s wish had been selfish-he was the first to admit that. He wished to go back in time, to when he first offered Kaneki friendship and betrayed him so horribly. He could blame it on being a ghoul, on his strange upbringing, but mostly it was to blame himself for taking advantage of such a kindred lonely soul._

_So he wanted to go back and fix his biggest mistake, the source of Kaneki’s distrust for him. He wished for a new start, a new world where his beloved would be better off and most of all-he wished for Kaneki’s happiness._

_The Witch looked over at him with an unreadable gaze, her eyes boring into his very soul. Tsukiyama was afraid of very little in his life, as a top predator, but he was afraid of Her and what she could do. It was such a folly to believe in witches and their wish granting powers, but he was the shell of a desperate man._

_“You do realize that I can grant your wish, but it will come at a price,” The Witch said in a voice eons old._

_“Of course. I wouldn’t expect anything else,” Tsukiyama said with a bow. Hadn’t books always said that’s what wishes were like?_

_“I see.” The Witch breathed out a line of smoke before looking down at her papers. “Then, Tsukiyama, what are you willing to give up for this wish?”_

_And so he stood before her, and answered truthfully, with all of his heart and soul._

_“For him, anything.”_

**Author's Note:**

> If the ending doesnt make sense, this is written in mind of an rp called Forest Covered, where the Witch can grant someones wish in return for them paying off a debt on her island-a Spirited Away AU. 
> 
> Tsukiyama's wish was to redo time and start again with Kaneki to give him the friendship he deserved.


End file.
